Donald Trump laughs at Florida rally as supporter suggests shooting immigrants
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr, has been subpoenaed to testify before the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee over his contacts with Russia, sparking the latest drama in Washington surrounding that investigation.
The subpoena comes as the White House remains at odds with Congress after the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold attorney general William Barr in contempt of Congress over his failure to release the full, unredacted Mueller report into alleged ties between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.
Democrats have demanded the unredacted version of that report, but also the underlying evidence so they can weigh whether charges are warrant further legal action.
That action may one day mean impeachment for Mr Trump — as some Democrats like presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren have demanded — but House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she does not believe the time has come for that effort.
Ms Pelosi said that she plans on waiting for House committees to finish their investigations, and then she would be open to considering further actions.
The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020
Show all 25
The president himself meanwhile addressed a rowdy rally in Panama City Beach, Florida, on Wednesday evening, where he pledged to deliver $448m (£344m) in disaster relief funding seven months after the Panhandle was devastated by Hurricane Michael. While delivering that good news, the president also laughed and joked when a member of the crowd yelled about shooting Central American migrants, who he said constituted an “invasion”.
Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events
Mr Trump is saying that the US gave Puerto Rico $91bn for hurricane disaster relief, saying that the "people of Puerto Rico should really like President Trump."
The aid figure Mr Trump was citing for Puerto Rico is not true, by the way.
That $91bn figure is based on estimates of how much the island would get over the long term if it were treated like a US state (which, as Mr Trump noted, it is not).
As Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello has pointed out, the island has actually only seen a fraction of that. According to the island’s recovery office, about $11.4 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds have been approved thus far, with about $5.72 billion disbursed, between individual assistance directly to families and public assistance.
In North Korea news: The United States has reportedly seized a North Korean ship used to transport coal in alleged violation of sanctions placed on the country.
The ship is now being brought into US waters, according to the US government.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” assistant attorney general John Demers said in a statement, according to the Washington Post.
Beyond the president, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders have teamed up to propose a 15 per cent interest rate limit for credit cards in the US.
The pair said in an outline of the plan released before things went official called Wall Street bankers in charge of credit cards "loan sharks", and suggested that Americans are drowning in debt with exorbitantly high interest rates.
“Today’s loan sharks wear expensive suits and work on Wall Street, where they make hundreds of millions of dollars in total compensation by charging sky-high fees and usurious interest rates,” the statement from the two said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments